Upper Bounds

[Noel Rude]

Howdy again,

        So you're looking for theoretical and experimental work on the upper
bound on sentence length.  Well, I don't do that kind of stuff, but you
might start with things like valence theory which, for example, suggests
an upper limit of three arguments for any verb.  Then there's stacking
up modifiers, and there's subordination.  Are there languages with built
in structural limits here?  If so, does this corelate with cog-sci
tests?

        Suppose you are able to describe pretty well these upper limits.  Then
I'd like to know why.  Would it all be neural capacity?  Or might there
even be--as you intimate--limits imposed by information theory?  Might
we sometimes be too worried about the hardware and not worried enough
about the software?

        The limit on valence probably relates to the perception of events, to
the notions of volition (agent), consciousness (dative goal), and
participants lacking either (patient).  It also seems to corelate with
three levels of topicality.  What I'd like to know is whether all this
derives from the limited capacity of this idiosyncratic machine (our
brain), or whether it is how the world really is.  And information
theory--could it be any other way?  What really is the relationship
between the world, information, and the machine (the brain)?

        Noel